BLSays: It’s December, which means…

It’s December, which means… Lots of Foolishness!

What do you think of when the calendar flips from November to December?

Q: Have they played the Army / Navy game yet? A: No, not yet, but probably soon. …

Q: Are those Hallmark Christmas Movies still the stereotype that millions so love and millions of others make fun of? A: Yep; they sure are on both counts. … Blondie has watched over thirty of’em in the past two weeks. Funny story… Blondie follows Hallmark actress Candace Cameron Bure on Instagram. Blondie saw a picture of Ms Bure and her daughter dressed, in Blondie’s opinion, “inappropriately”. She noted her opinion… and got zapped by Ms Bure. YIKES!

Blondie and I are now tied in “# times zapped on social media” with “once each”.

Q: Why doesn’t anyone protest the term “Black Friday”? A: I don’t know, I guess people who “protest” such things are too busy “protesting” the Eeeevil imbedded in Rudolph, The Red-nosed Reindeer and Macy’s Parade’s Underdog balloon.

Q: Who is playing in The Dollar General Bowl this year? A: Troy versus Buffalo on Dec 22 in Mobile Alabama. Has anyone ever waited anxiously for their acceptance letter “from Troy”? Is there a coed at Troy named “Helen”? Is there anyone under the age of 50 named “Helen”?

Moving right along…

That UNCCH “Black Athlete” Graduation Issue… ??? Huh, what UNC “Black Athlete Graduation Issue”? About a week or so ago a lengthy article appeared in The News & Observer about the alarmingly low graduation rate for “black athletes” at UNCCH. No, it was NOT written by “That Damn Dan” Kane or by anyone you’ve ever heard of. It was written by some UNC grad student.

I would give you his name but I can’t pull up or link you to the article because it is behind The N&O’s pay-wall. How can a newspaper have “a wall” but The United States’ can not have “a wall”?

You can google UNC Black Athlete Graduation Rate and maybe you can pull up the article. How does “a UNC graduate student” gets an article published in The N&O… not a LTTE but an actual article like he was a for-real journalist? Add that to my ever-growing pile of “I don’t know”.

Anyhow… it was a long article filled with numbers and %s and it appeared in The N&O so it must be “The Truth”, right? That’s a rhetorical question.

As I recall the UNC grad student is alarmed that the % of “black athletes” who actually graduate from UNCCH is alarmingly low when compared to other academic institutions. “Troy” was not mentioned as a comparative institution. The grad student / faux journalist thinks this is something that someone other than him should be concerned about. My quite unscientific study did not find that to be the case.

Before I lost my one copy of the article I shared it with seven UNCCH alumni of “my generation”. All seven of whom profess a genuine interest in UNCCH… at least for the Football and Men’s BB programs and a sorta interest in the Fate of Silent Sam.

To my surprise, not ONE of those seven seemed at all alarmed, surprised, or gave a damn re: The Alarmingly Low Black Athlete Graduation Rate at UNCCH.

Each of those seven are familiar with my landmark treatise on the Gladiator / Spectator Dichotomy in Big Time College Sports. I note in that treatise that the only tangent point in the relationship of the Gladiators and Spectators is when said gladiators are actually performing for said spectators.

Do alumni / fans at other Power 5 schools care about the graduation rates of black athletes at their institutions? Having restricted my survey to seven UNCCH alumni, I am not in a position to say how anyone else feels.

Maybe everyone in the UNCCH Family except those seven alumni ARE concerned, but I doubt it. Maybe the whole article is bogus. I doubt that but maybe. In this Post-TGU World that we live in, maybe the academic legitimacy of “black athletes” at UNCCH is simply a sore subject.

Kinda like “How can Dickie Baddour, Deborah Crowder and that other “most ethical” woman get their full pensions as primary co-conspirators in The Greatest Academic Scam in NCAA History?”

When there is no reasonable answer to a relatively simple question… shrug ones’ shoulders and mutter “I dunno”.

Chancellor Chihuahua feels compelled to “apologize about Slavery”; but NOT so concerned about the alarmingly low graduation rate of UNCCH ‘s black athletes?? There I go taking cheap shots at Carol Folt… AGAIN. I’ll get another nasty note from “JudgeBob”… sigh!

I suspect the article received much more attention among “hated rival fans” than it did with disinterested UNCCH alumni/fans.

I also shared the article with my friend Mary Willingham and with Dave Ridpath w/ The Drake Group. After several years with a literacy program in Arkansas, Mary is now back in South Chicago working for a literacy program serving black youth. “Helping black students learn to read” was all Mary Willingham ever wanted to do. For that she was run out of Chapel Hill… and yelled-at by Chancellor Chihuahua. The Drake Group is a group of academic administrators seeking reform in Big Time College Athletics.

Based on my personal experience with this recent N&O article, I’d say The Drake Group has their work cut out for them. Wouldn’t you?.

As of today, Mack Brown has NOT announced either Gene Chizek nor Kliff Kingsbury as Coordinators for Mack 2.0 Era at UNC. Nor was Mack ever going to hire either one.

… The Chizek / Kingsbury Rumor was never anything but Board Monkey BS. I try my best to shield you from that insipid crap but, alas, you believe it any way. Mine is a hopeless task but I just love saying “I told you so”.

Someone told me… that someone told them… that they heard that… a lot of UNC fans are upset about the rehiring of Mack Brown. NOT about “the alarmingly low graduation rate of UNC’s black athletes” but about rehiring Mack Brown.

Apparently those upset UNC fans wanted “another Larry Who from Hattiesburg”… or from Troy… or from Boone… or from wherever James Madison is.

Maybe they wanted “a black assistant from Georgia or Alabama”. That is what Maryland and Colorado wanted… and got.

Now Maryland has “a black AD who was fired from Georgia for being pulled over in Buckhead with panties in his lap” AND “a black Head Football Coach who was fired from New Mexico for going 2-20 and for assaulting one of his assistants”. To my knowledge, Mack Brown has no such issues on his resume.

Speaking of assaulting people, specifically women, girl friends, groupies, et al… I read that The NFL is still dealing with that issue. Despite hiring a bunch of “Make’em Stop Beating Up Women” executives in The NFL HQ… their reforms, memos, and workshops don’t seem to be all that effective in curtailing the problem. I’m SHOCKED… howabout you?

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Speaking of dealing with the problem… have you heard the latest whizbang proposal for What To Do With Chapel Hill’s Most Notorious Homeless War Veteran… Silent Sam? After several months of deliberation and an extension of several extra weeks of deliberation… “Chihuahua” Folt and her Merry Band of Trustees are proposing…

Building a $5,300,000 building on-campus to house SSam… rather than put SSam back on his pedestal… and rather than any of dozens of other plans that make much more sense.

NOTE: “Fred” says he could maintain it with “a Swifter and some Windex” for $125/week plus supplies.

Guess What? The mini-gang of obscenity-screaming anarchists don’t like Chihuahua & Her Trustees New Plan AT ALL. They weren’t going to like ANY plan of course; because they are obscenity-screaming anarchists who pretty much Hate Everything EXCEPT Media Attention which they LOVE. … LINK.

I’m going to go way out on a limb and bet… all those UNCCH alumni / fans who don’t care about alarmingly low black athletes graduation rates (or rehiring Mack Brown) also don’t “give a damn” about Silent Sam any more.

Maybe they care about a 100 year old campus landmark but they know “Chihuahua” and her Merry Band of Trustees will screw it up somehow because …

Maybe “they” could stick SSam in a corner of that spanking new $32,000,000 IPF? All of those black athletes, most of who won’t graduate, but who cares, could see it every day and be reminded how clever their university’s administrators are?

TGU was most likely the final straw for many alums acceptance of the UNC hypocrisy. Are UNC Admin sociological or marketing or administrative geniuses. Pick just one. Bringing in illiterates to entertain our studentry and fat ass fat cats is the ultimate in offensiveness.

It has been “for me” for sure and I was never among the star-struck naive on the subject. Yes, “IT” goes on yesterday – today – and tomorrow at many other schools for sure but those other schools are not “my alma mater”..My personal disgust is not only with the sycophant admins but equally with the sanctimonious alumni/fans who continue to cheer as the nekkid Emperor parades down Franklin Street in his “new clothes” which are not “new”at all.

There are those in the Wolfpack Nation that believe that the cheating started when Hinton James claimed to have hiked from Wilmington to qualify for the intercollegiate hiking title, but in fact used a horse part of the way. I think that Smith probably pushed for an AFAM program because he realized that he was not exactly recruiting Larry Millers and Rusty Clarks later in his tenure. I think that program was fertile for a system to evolve. Evolve it evidently did. Smith, Brown, Davis, Williams or their minions used it to their advantage IMHO.

Yep. DES was a visionary for sure. He saw that AfAms were the future of Basketball in the mid 60s…. and that Charlie Scott was NOT “typical” as far as being a legitimate “student athlete”. NOTE: Larry Miller was hardly the “legitimate student athlete” that Rusty Clark was but that is another story”..If he – DES – was going to shift his recruiting to “urban AfAm youth” which he realized WAS the future of BB, he needed to tweak UNC’s academic programs to accomodate his new arrivals… most of whom would NOT have Charlie Scott’s academic aptitude nor a genuine interest in a college classroom experience. Rasheed Wallace is usually the “poster boy” for “that kinda guy”..Bill Chamberlain, Phil Ford, Walter Davis, Dudley Bradley were transitional players in that process thru the 70s. … Did DES “cross the line” in accommodating his revised recruiting emphasis? Not according to the NCAA… wink, wink ??.“My buddy Art” might have a different opinion, but I’m sticking with mine.

Agree whole heartedly with your response to BK regarding the origin and author of the TGU and that MB’s, only involvement was that he and some of his players benefited from the curriculum therein. Still , there is the irony that he is coming back to replace a coach who was burdened throughout from the outfall of that situation while he himself {MB} benefitted from it..As to the GSR of both schools being nothing to brag about, I always thought that a low rating might be a plus as far as academic integrity goes. Since the pool of athletes is very similar for most of the ACC schools and the educators are similiarly qualified, the lower GSR might be a measure of such integrity in the classroom. This doesn’t apply to Duke cause we all know they are special…..especially the one and dones.

More Irony… that coach (Fedora) got the job because the prior coach (The Butcher) recruited the individual (Marvin Austin) that inadvertently pulled the string (Hit SEND) that caused Humpty Dumpty’s Great Fall. Marvin led to Jennifer The Tutor… that led to Mary & Jay … that led to The Martin Report… that exposed Uncle Julius et al. … All Quite Fascinating!.I defer to “Dale The Duke Guy” but I betcha EVERY Duke One & Done over the past 5-6 years has the very same class schedule, courses, teachers etc for the 6-8 months he is “at Duke”. Not saying that is nefarious, just that K’s staff plugs them into an established set program. I would.

Comment back to Doug….Never said Brown was the originator of TGU any more than Dean Smith. However with 6-7 times more athletes than Smith, Brown should have known. The academic scam was in place since the early ’90’sSame comment about Roy as well.Good blog with good responses.

If not Dean Smith as the titular “Father of TGU”. who was? On-going discussion of TGU (“The Great Unpleasantness” for newbees) is like studying The Fall of The Roman Empire..Once DES “convinced” the Univ to create AfAm Studies as a bonafide (??) curriculum with courses set-up however they were (for whatever sinister ulterior purpose DES had in-mind); the onus was then on “The Univ” to justify AfAm Studies by whatever goofy standards Academicians employ within their little faux-universe..Dean’s boys as well as FBers, frat boys, et al simply took full advantage of the loopholes built-in the system. “They” did not create nor circumvent those convenient loopholes… some jock-sniffing academic admins in South Bldg did that … i.e. Crowder, Uncle Julius, etc. – all of whom are enjoying generous pensions now..Hated-rivals want to paint Mack with this?… Go for it… it’s what hated rivals do. What Mack or Roy “knew” doesn’t matter. “The University” set-up and approved the whole thing. Was it Academic Flim Flammery? ABSOLUTELY… IMO..Should “The Univ” be punished for doing so? Probably. What does that involve?

I thought of you when I saw this several days ago. I guess “being a big fish in a small pond” was NOT enough for Scott. No crime in that. Hopefully for him and his family… Louisville has flushed out its criminal element and can be a suitable work environment for him to prosper..Now its up to the ASU leadership to find “the next Jerry Moore / Scott Satterfield” to continue the Yosef Tradition of FB Success.

The author on the UNC black athlete graduation rates is Davis Winkie. If his name was Winkie Davis I probably would have thought the article was from The Onion. Regardless I’m sure Winkie will receive the similar support from Old South headquarters as Jay Smith and Mary Willingham did for their good work trying to better the lives of student athletes..Re: Hallmark Christmas movies. I’ve discovered Lifetime & Freeform TV channel Christmas movies too. Those two options come in handy when Christmas In Evergreen repeats showing about 4 times in as many days. Netflix also has Christmas movie options with double-bonus points for no commercials. Recommend Christmas Chronicles on Netflix. It’s a hoot with Kurt Russell as St Nick and a Goldie Hawn cameo and was welcome comic relief from my recent Narco’s Mexico binge..Mr Kennel and others here are approaching board monkey status linking Mack and TGU. I expect better, especially from BK with his tolerant liberal viewpoint . 😎

Who names a kid “Davis Winkie”?.Watching any of those Christmas movies interspersed with either Narcos series could create serious psychological issues..I was with BK and THE George Whitfield last night at Kay Court @ Valvano Arena @ Reynolds Coliseum. We pretty much solved every issue with MLB. BK was wise enough to steer clear of any political chatter.

If they want Sam in a place where nobody will see him, roll him out at Kenan in the 4th quarter, and only the 4th quarter. Only Fred and Ethel hang around until then anyway. That the someone would suggest a mausoleum for him way over there is proof enough that reality does not exist in academia..Was the grad rate pre- or post- Uncle Julius? If they need to get it back up, I am sure he will come back, for a price..The N&O printing a piece like that (and I don’t need to read it), is the equal of taking anything to fill the allotted 12 pages they need to fill these days. it has been something like 72 hours since the last controversy over there. They need some reason to get the protesters out in this cold weather. Break out the drums and construction paper, we have a new cause du jour..I vaguely remember Mack 1.0 having some silly controversy around new cars lent from a local dealership to the coaches, but that was well before the days of $3m+ contracts. I bet nowadays, if he wanted the whole dealership, they would give it to him. Personally, I’d more likely to buy a camper from Mack than a new car. I do not remember any major player issues. I’m sure his grad rate was the same as all the rest….higher than if these guys didn’t play football.

You hit bullseyes on every point. LOVE the idea of putting SSam in the middle of Kenan Jr’s Blue Zone in the 4th Quarter. NOBODY would think to look there. Mack thinks he’s gonna “fill it” … LOLOLOL..I had lunch today with a bunch of pretty staunch TruBlues and they all agree The Silent Sam Mausoleum sets a new High (Low?) in South Bldg Ridiculous..I think those Grad Rates #s were Post-Uncle Julius’ Era. Uncle J has been gone for more than several years.

Not sure how to answer that one. Chihuahua spent 20+ years “at Dartmouth” so her opinion on the IQ of your basic “mouth-breathing southern redneck” ain’t all that high. THE QUESTION might better be phrased – “How smart do these pin-headed nimrods think THEY are?” . That answer is “Very Very”.

Scathingly spot on.Kindly share the photos of the “inappropriately” dressed femaleswith us…your faithful hangers-on..PS. Do you have any concept how absurd those #s are (and THEY ARE the #s!)?Construction $5,300,000Annual care taking $800,000.I’m trying to digest how an administration that believes that project to be a reasonable, financially sound idea ARE THE SAME people with whom we entrust with OUR funds. I just cannot fathom how this will go largely unnoticed. My God.

I was also curious about the “inappropriate dress” of Ms Bure and her winsome daughter. Alas, Blondie has been denied access. In describing them, she used the terms “skanky” and “trashy” and “hookery”..Academic Admins and their Trustees never pay much attention to “costs” of anything. Those are dirty “business” issues. That The NCGA is already laughing at the SSam Mausoleum Idea” bodes un-well for its implementation. I fear more “deliberation” will be forthcoming. That oughta be fun, huh?

BTW….does anyone really care about how many people graduate from any of the UNC organizations/departments/teams? I never think about it…don’t really care…..it’s all about bragging rights, anyway, yes? Hell, I matriculated from UNC and went on to sell horizontal patient support systems…..I could have, I guess, opened up a Poli Sci shop, too, but, after graduation, and a stab at coaching 17-21 year old kids ( mostly, white ), I enrolled in the Graduate School of Hard Knocks….been knocking on doors, since.

Apparently darn few, if anyone, cares about black athletes graduating from anywhere. I don’t. But I do find it intriguing that no one else cares either. I long ago stopped assuming I thought like “most people”.

I fear that such a prominent location as “Not That Kenan, The Other Kenan” Stadium would quickly attract “the obscenity-spewing anarchists” and their sizable regional media contingent, Changing Sam’s name to Silent Kareem or Silent Lebron or Silent Sharpton might do it though. I see where Duke is power-washing the “Carr” name off of its buildings.

Well, December did bring us the new Valvano Arena inside Reynolds Coliseum..As I mentioned before, Mack Brown was at the start of TGU. But maybe your gang of seven don’t care about that either..Your war on words for Silent Sam as UNC-CH’s most famous “homeless war veteran” is priceless. Hope all your UNC-CH friends find a common sense solution.

Re: Kay Yow’s Court in James T. Valvano’s Arena in William Neal Reynolds’ Coliseum is indeed a very well-done impressive facility. All area sports fans should tour it..At lunch today with “Fred” (of “Fred & Ethel” fame), I asked him if he had seen KYC in JTVA in WNRC. He gave me a look as if I had asked him if he ever gargled thumb tacks. In either case his answer would be “Why would I ever want to do that?” Fred’s loss..The #1 Rule of Hated Rival Banter is “There Are No Rules”. Every living hated rival fan of UNC’s (and there are many of them) seems fixated on linking Mack Brown to TGU. IF Truth mattered in such situations, The Truth is that ONLY ONE “Coach” in UNC History has ever had the Power to (1) arbitrarily create entire academic depts, (2) fabricate curriculum, and (3) dispense high grades insuring the on-going eligibility of his athletes. That coach has never been a Football Coach. Only His Supreme Imminence Dean E. Smith possessed such authority..I assume that Mack Brown’s student-athletes took those courses and benefitted from them as did numerous frat boys and assorted wastrels from prominent families. Those courses were available thru the General Course Catalogue of The University as orchestrated by Dean E. Smith. Mack Brown certainly has his eccentricities and peculiarities subject to hated rival ridicule. Beating the “Mack was a co-conspirator in TGU” drum is “a snort and chuckle” best left to the backroom of Amedeo’s..Yes, the Silent Sam Mausoleum for “CH’s Most Notorious Homeless War Vet” is a new addition to the “BobLee Said” Hall of Fame.

Here is the information on S-A graduation rates, BLS. No one from UNC or NCSU has room to crow. Are some folks really arguing over which school is last and which school is next to last. As Pepé LePew famously said, “lé sigh”.http://amp.newsobserver.com/sports/article221656885.html

First…thanks for the Heads UP on UofMD HFBC Mike Locksley. Obviously the THREE attributes (Sexual Assault; Physical Assault; & Losing Record) will be part of the newly launched $1.5 BILLION fund raising campaign that was shut down after the Board of Regents reinstated Durkin. NOTE…that SAME BoR wanted to put in Gary (I won a NCAA Ring) Williams as PRESIDENT….as he was “liked”. And the UoMD AD passed over Matt Canada who got the outstanding OC of the Year award whilst at Pitt and was hired by LSU…See #3 on the list below….https://www.cheatsheet.com/sports/the-worst-college-football-coaches-of-all-time.html/.Second….as to the FUNDS. TGU was funded by the “Excess Undesignated Earnings” that the BoT and Miss Smurfette Folt can use at “THEIR” discretion. Wonder if she and the BoT will tap into THAT for the Silent Sam Mausoleum? If NOT, then it WILL be interesting to see if the NCGA allows the NC Historical and Confederate Monument Protection Society to Fund SUCH….as well as the $800K full time Bubba with Bull Dog Private Security Contractor. There are enough Good Ole Boys in Hillsborough that are funding the Keep the Stars and Bars FLYING program that would VOLUNTEER for the duty.

I saw a report that the NCGA has already roundly ridiculed the proposed $5,300,000 Silent Sam Mausoleum & Oyster Bar as “even too ridiculous for UNCCH”. When The NCGA declares something “too ridiculous” that is coming from a group well acquainted with “ridiculous proposals”.

I have been amazed at the money available from UNC to do things like pay people not to coach, spin TGU, reduce stadium size, and guard statues. I will happily guard Silent Sam for half of what they propose. I saw a photo of the inside of the new indoor practice facility and low and behold they have the “Jump Man”, aka Michael Jordan, very prominent on the wall next to the logo. That is bound to impress a FOOTBALL recruit..We need to do lunch after the holiday business. Lots to catch up on.

Betcha “Jumpman” will impress recruits more than “lunch with the Dean of The Business School” or “a tour of the Library”..Don’t be knocking “reduce Kenan Jr’s size”. THAT ONE was a good idea. Yep… lets do lunch soon.

As a member of the gang of 7 I would have commented but I knew you would recall that a similar report several decades ago led to the creation of the AfAm Department and we all know how well that turned out.